On Thursday night, the Hoptown Hoppers beat the Madisonville Miners 6-5 inside Colonel Field for the Hoppers’ Military Appreciation Night.
Jut two days before, the Miners defeated the Hoppers 8-2 at Madisonville, making the Thursday matchup a game of revenge for the Hoppers.
The game started with the University of Indianapolis pitcher Caden Wilburn throwing for the Hoppers.
He was able to hold the Miners scoreless for four innings until an unearned run off of a fielding error, was scored for Madisonville in the fifth which was the last inning he appeared in.
The winning pitcher Wilburn finished his day allowing just one hit, while walking five batters, and striking out five as well.
The Hoppers offense was effective getting 9 hits and scoring 6 runs with 2 in the fourth, 3 in the fifth, and 1 in the 7th.
Reid Douglas, Stephen Bell, and Dom Oliverio all managed to hit doubles in the contest which improved the Hoppers’ doubles totals on the season from 9 to 12. which is ranked 8th in the Ohio Valley League.
Errors were a problem for the Hoppers defense once again as they had five on Thursday’s game after having three errors against the WhirlyBirdz on Wednesday.
After being up 6-3, two errors came from the Hoppers in the 8th and 9th inning respectively which helped bring in a run in each inning for the Miners to make it 6-5.
It was pitcher Jaxon McTyre that had possibly the play of the night as he faced a batter with the bases loaded and a 6-4 score in the top of the eighth with 1 out. Batting was Jack Robinson for the Miners as he was facing a 3-0 count. Robinson then looked at the first strike from McTyre, and swung and missed on the next to pitches to erupt the Hopper fans.
To embellish the great moment even more for McTtyre, his parents were in attendance for the game. Both of them served in the military, so Jaxon explained after the game how special it was to have a strong closing performance in the Hoppers Military Appreciation game.
The Hoppers moved to 4-8 on the season and will have a three-game road trip for the weekend starting with the Muhlenberg Co. Stallions on Friday night at 7:05 PM.